It would help to have some background information about NATO as well as the now defunct WARSAW PACT. NATO was established in 1949 with 12 countries as member states. Today it has 29 members in North America and Europe. It also acknowledges Ukraine and Georgia, former USSR states, as aspiring members. It continues to groom other countries in Eastern Europe to join its membership. It also has intention to expand in South America and the Middle East. The Warsaw Pact was formed in 1955 between the former USSR and 7 other East European countries. All these countries are now full members of NATO, save Russia. The Warsaw Pact was a reaction to West Germany’s joining of NATO in 1955!
Obvious questions arise. Why should the allied countries that collectively won WWII, needed to have a new military alliance? And from whom were they trying to defend themselves? Even though the USSR sacrificed the most to defeat the axis forces, (Germany, Italy, et al, in WWII) it ended up becoming the number one enemy of the West, once the war was over. The very strategy of NATO was based on this not so subtle objective. This project was called the ‘Cold War’. To be sure, in the first half of the 20th century, ‘the socialisms’ were in clear ascendance all over the world. The socialism of the USSR or more precisely, ‘Sovietism’, which collapsed in 1989 under its own dead weight, served the West as a useful gadfly, so to speak. Before the demise of the USSR however, its leader and the then US president came to an understanding that NATO would not expand ‘even an inch’ towards the east, i.e. Eastern Europe. That proved to be a complete lie! Moreover, in 2003 the US unilaterally abrogated the ‘anti ballistic missile treaty’, sensing Russia’s weakness at the time. This again proved to be a short-sighted calculus, on the part of the US/NATO leadership!
Recently, President Trump trumped the ‘intermediate nuclear forces treaty’, which was signed by the leaders of the then two superpowers, USSR & USA. The objective of the treaty was to reduce the threat of nuclear war, mostly in Europe. Now that assurance is gone, Russia’s intermediate nuclear missiles are going to target western & eastern European cities and military bases, while NATO’s (intermediate missiles) will target Russian cities and other strategic sites. In other words, Europe is back to the future, so to speak. Unless, these intermediate missiles are dismantled, Europe is going to be a war theatre, just like the good old days! However and unlike before, consequences of modern warfare are not going to be forgiving. The danger is now compounded even more, as Russia today commands hi-tech arsenals that are second to none! There is literally no defensive mechanism, anywhere on earth, that can stop these highly sophisticated weapon systems from reaching their assigned targets.
For a start, almost all of these weapons leverage hypersonic delivery systems, which make them difficult to track let alone bring down! These projectiles can also change their trajectories in mid-air, if commanded. Again, this adds to the challenges of devising an effective defense systems. Russia has also developed very quiet submarines that are difficult to detect and which can carry very potent weapons, including intercontinental ballistic missiles with as many as 24 independently targeted re-entry vehicles. Amongst these, some might be only decoys while the rest can be the real things. Given all these deterrence systems in place why is NATO still engaged in uncalled provocations? We will not try to answer this today. Instead, we will leave it to Prof. Campbell to do so. See his article next column.
Twenty years ago NATO attacked Yugoslavia, without UNSC (United Nation Security Council) resolution, a clear breach of the Nuremberg agreement, which stipulates that any country that attacks another country without UNSC resolution is guilty of ‘war crime’ or is actively committing ‘war of aggression’. And its leaders will be prosecuted for crimes against humanity! In 2003, NATO attacked Iraq, without UNSC resolution. Again, this was also a war of aggression! Thereafter, NATO bombarded Libya, under the pretext of protecting civilians! Then came Syria. Yet again, the UNSC was unable to stop the country’s destabilization, as three of the five permanent members are NATO members! Recently, the US/NATO installed a puppet government in Ukraine, by instigating a coup d’état. Georgia, another core member of the former USSR was at war in 2008 against Russian forces situated in Ossetia, of course as NATO’s proxy. Again, this was another shortsighted incursion that resulted in South Ossetia succeeding from Georgia altogether. Because of stupidity and hubris instigated by NATO, Ukraine has also lost Crimea to the Russian Republic and its eastern and southern regions are in a flux, to say the least. If truth be told, it was only recently that Crimea was gifted to Ukraine. Khrushchev, (head of USSR) in one of his drinking bouts just felt like giving Crimea to Ukraine! Note though, all these entities were still part of the larger USSR at the time. Today many people, including the large majority of the Western sheeple (human mass) do not like the way the US is handling situations, not only in Europe, but all over the world. Recent surveys conducted globally show that the majority of people in the world regard USA as the number one threat to world peace!
NATO’s first secretary general was candid in the mission of the military alliance. Its objective, he said, was; “ To keep Russia out, the Americans in, and Germany down”. Britain’s Lord Ismay. Good Day!